It's OK
by snowprincess
Summary: An add-on to the ending of the movie. Something for all shippers.


So, this is just a little ficlet I wrote shortly after watching The Proposal for the -th time. I really did like the story and wanted to write something longer, but I feel like the story ended so perfectly I didn't know how to keep going. This was something that I thought made sense and gave me a chance to explore the characters a little further.

If this is terrible stuff, PLEASE feel free to tell me. It has been literally years since I've last posted and I know I have to be rusty.

Snow

* * *

She never learned how to swim.

It was one of those things growing up that somehow never made it into her skill set. Sure, she had gone to pool parties growing up, but water had always freaked her out a little bit. It was cold, dark, and yes it was wet, but mostly, there was no one to teach her. And after her parents died, there was no time to learn in the middle of being an adult. It was that unnerve that grew to fear the first time she stepped onto a boat in Alaska.

It was that fear that paralyzed her when she fell off of a boat in Alaska. All she could remember was the cold at first, and then the feeling of the turbulent water around her because of the wake. She remembered kicking her legs in some uncoordinated kind of motion that somehow helped her to stay afloat, never mind the fact that within about thirty seconds she had lost feeling in her arms and legs.

What Margaret remembered most was the panicking voice in the air (hers?) screaming for Andrew, and his shouted words of guidance as she paddled her way to the buoy. The fear that paralyzed her body slowly chipped away until she was brave enough to reach out for his hand and let him pull her into the boat. She remembered mumbling something about him being a jackass for making her fall in, but in her heart she let her scared self be pulled into his arms as he frantically tried to keep her warm.

Margaret didn't like to be vulnerable. It was something that wasn't allowed after her parents died. Sure, she had her moments; everyone did. But acting vulnerable on occasion and actually being so were two very different things. It seemed everything in the last week was trying to drive her emotional state to its breaking point.

That was the day she decided she needed to leave Andrew. For his sake... and hers.

* * *

"Yeah! Show her who's boss Andrew!"

The couple smiled to each other before Andrew leaned in for another kiss. Around them they could hear the sighs and giggles from the female staff and the boasting of some of the males to Andrew's ego. Brushing his thumbs on her cheeks, Andrew pulled back and murmured, "You wanna get out of here?"

She nodded, "Let me go grab my things and make sure these boxes are sent out."

"It will actually be easier if you leave the boxes here," Andrew said as he picked up his jacket. Without a word he walked into Margaret's office and retrieved her jacket and purse, handing them to her on their way out. "We have a little INS problem to take care of first."

Margaret felt her breath catch as they stepped into the elevator. Her plane was leaving in a few short hours, and there would be several federal officers happy to arrest her if she was not on it. She felt Andrew enter her body space when the doors closed as his arms pulled her into his chest. Andrew's lips tickled across her forehead as he whispered, "Don't worry. I'm not going to let them take you away from me."

Apparently, Andrew did have a plan. He explained to her that he had been at the INS office for most of the day trying to figure out where she was, thinking that they had already sent her back to Toronto. He had also managed to convince the investigator that they really were engaged, and that the spat at the wedding was really the result of an unfortunate fight the night before (she was his boss, and therefore not easy to work with...), and had set up a follow up meeting in one week to finally determine whether Margaret could stay or go. Andrew would have been happy to go downtown that day and get a marriage license, but it would have been the equivalent of being caught red-handed in the eyes of the government. If this was going to work, he and Margaret needed their support, not their ire. It didn't hurt that his father was one of the richest men on the West coast; it only tended to grease a few wheels in the process.

Andrew smoothed the hair out of Margaret's forehead as she shifted to look up at him, "You mean, I don't have to leave today?"

"You don't have to leave today, or ever if I'm going to have anything to say about it." He gripped her a little tighter when he saw tears begin to form in her eyes.

This side of Margaret Andrew definitely wasn't used to. She hardly ever showed emotions to him before these past few days, and he could tell this process of coming undone for someone was particularly hard on her. He would never say it, but that day on the boat had been probably the first day he consciously realized he was starting to love Margaret Tate. She had come screaming to him about how their plan was a horrible idea and began venting about all of the wonderful things about his family that she had forgotten and was now envious of. At first, he had been so confused and angry by her sudden change of mood, but that quickly turned to panic when she fell off of the boat into the icy water.

His sudden protectiveness surprised him. Yes, he had been concerned for her health, but emotionally he had felt tied to her well being in a way that he hand't felt before. To have her safe with him on the boat had left Andrew breathless, and he didn't remember who he was talking to more with his mumblings of everything being alright. Margaret had shown him her most vulnerable side that day, and then she had left him.

He wasn't going to let her run anymore. For her sake... and his.


End file.
